An Annotated Bibliography
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Leaven Volume 14 Issue 4 The Future of the Restoration Article 8 Movement 1-1-2006 A Frightening New World/A Hopeful New World: An Annotated Bibliography Douglas A. Foster [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.pepperdine.edu/leaven Part of the Biblical Studies Commons, Christianity Commons, and the Religious Thought, Theology and Philosophy of Religion Commons Recommended Citation Foster, Douglas A. (2006) "A Frightening New World/A Hopeful New World: An Annotated Bibliography," Leaven: Vol. 14 : Iss. 4 , Article 8. Available at: https://digitalcommons.pepperdine.edu/leaven/vol14/iss4/8 This Resource Guide is brought to you for free and open access by the Religion at Pepperdine Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Leaven by an authorized editor of Pepperdine Digital Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected], [email protected], [email protected]. Foster: A Frightening New World/A Hopeful New World: An Annotated Bibliog A Frightening New World/ A Hopeful New World: An Annotated Bibliography DOUGLAS A. FOSTER As Leonard Allen highlights in his article "The Future of the Restoration Movement," today's thought world is vastly different from the one that gave birth to the Stone-Campbell Movement and Churches of Christ. Church leaders struggling to understand this new world and respond in godly ways are faced with a daunting body of literature that both defines and embodies this new situation. Though not claiming to be comprehen- sive nor implying endorsement of all ideas presented, this annotated bibliography is a starting place to help chart the main contours of this frightening and hopeful new world. The materials are organized into six sec- tions that roughly parallel Allen's main points. I. THE NEW WORLD IN WHICH WELIVE Braaten, Carl, and Robert W. Jensen, eds. The Strange New World of the Gospel: Re-Evangelizing in the Postmodern World. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2002. The editors contend that most "unbelievers" in America and the West were actually brought up in church but no longer believe. The task of the church in the postmodern/ post-Christian world is to "re-evangelize." Nine scholars representing major-Christian traditions examine ways the church can relate the gospel to this new world. Greer, Robert C. Mapping Postmodernism: A SurveY of Christian Options. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity, 2003. A gripping introduction and survey of the church's major options in understanding postrnodem thought. Using four twentieth-century Christian thinkers as the basis of his study (Francis Schaeffer, Karl Barth, John Hick, and George Lindbeck), Greer shows the modernist concept of "absolute truth" as an enemy to the Christian faith. He moves, however, toward a new concept of absolute truth and way of doing Christian the- ology that he labels post-postmodernism. Lukacs, John. At the End of an Age. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2002. Renowned historian John Lukacs examines evidence that the Modem Age is ending, especially the wide- spread questioning of its two central notions-the certainty of scientific knowledge and the principle of Progress. His provocative approach challenges both conservatives and liberals, creationism and evolution. He concludes with the argument that the historical appearance of Christ upon earth is the most significant event in the universe. Published by Pepperdine Digital Commons, 2006 1 Leaven, Vol. 14 [2006], Iss. 4, Art. 8 192 LEAVEN Fourth Quarter 2006 II. THE RATIONAL ROOTS OF THE STONE-CAMPBELL MOVEMENT Allen, Leonard, and Danny Gray Swick. Participating in God s Life: Two Crossroads for Churches of Christ. Orange, California: New Leaf Books, 200l. Allen and Swick begin with the fascinating story of the 1856 Tolbert Fanning-Robert Richardson contro- versy. Fanning, whose theology was completely shaped by Baconian common sense philosophy, was unable to acknowledge that he held any philosophical presuppositions. He accused the more "mystical" Richardson of skewing the gospel with philosophy. Allen uses the story as a springboard for appealing to Churches of Christ to embrace trinitarian theology as central to spiritual formation and a corrective to the negative impli- cations of our rationalistic past. Bozeman, Theodore Dwight. Protestants in an Age of Science: The Baconian Ideal and Ante-Bellum American Religious Thought. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1977. For three decades Dwight Bozeman has been one of the premier historians of Puritan history and thought. In this seminal book he describes how the Baconian theory of knowledge created the assumption that correct biblical interpretation was a "scientific" enterprise. This idea became almost universal in early nineteenth- century America. Bozeman uses the Presbyterian Church as his case study, yet readers will easily see the massive influence of the ideas on Alexander Campbell's Restorationist program. Hughes, Richard T. Reviving the Ancient Faith: The Story of Churches of Christ in America. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1996. Hughes's monumental history of Churches of Christ describes the nineteenth century origins of the Stone- Campbell Movement and how those origins shaped us in the twentieth. Contrasting the Campbellian ratio- nalistic and Stoneite "apocalyptic" understandings of the church and the world, Hughes masterfully tells the stories of how the rationalistic tendencies largely triumphed. Allen, Leonard. Unseen Things: Churches of Christ in (and After) the Modern Age. Siloam Springs, AR: Leafwood,2004. This book represents a more fulsome development of the ideas put forth in Allen's essay published in this issue of Leaven. Eight trenchant essays orient readers to the largely modem philosophical and theological formation of Churches of Christ, offering ideas for moving responsibly into the twenty-first century. III. CHRISTIAN UNITY AS A CORE VALUE A. Unity as Understood in the Stone-Campbell Movement Callen, Barry L., and James B. North. Coming Together in Christ: Pioneering a New Testament Way to Christian Unity. Joplin, MO: College Press, 1997. A compelling call and theological rationale for churches traditionally opposed to participation in "ecumeni- cal" activities to embrace ecumenism-though questioning modernist presuppositions of the Ecumenical Movement. The book draws from the dialogue between members of the Christian Churches/Churches of Christ and the Church of God (Anderson, IN) in the 1980s and 1990s. Foster, Douglas A. "The Struggle for Unity During the Period of Division of the Restoration Movement: 1870-1900." Ph.D. dissertation, Vanderbilt University, 1987. https://digitalcommons.pepperdine.edu/leaven/vol14/iss4/8 2 Foster: A Frightening New World/A Hopeful New World: An Annotated Bibliog THE FUTURE OF THE RESTORATION MOVEMENT LEAVEN 193 The author examines the early ideas of Christian unity in the Stone-Campbell Movement and in American Christianity, demonstrating how four very different understandings of unity were behind the two divisions that tore this unity movement apart in the twentieth century. Foster, Douglas A. "The Face of Christian Unity." Christian Standard (February 6, 2000): 4-6. The first in a series of four articles examining the major foci of the Stone-Campbell Movement during its two hundred year history, Foster examines the complexity of the concept of unity in the face of current church realities. He identifies areas that have been key to a healthy understanding of our responsibilities to work for the visible unity ofthe church-areas that do not require a rigid rational consensus. Shelly, Rubel. I Just Want to be a Christian. Revised edition. Nashville: 20th Century Christian, 1986. A landmark book that challenged sectarian exclusivist assumptions of Churches of Christ through an exami- nation of the theology of Christian unity from the Stone-Campbell heritage. Though modem in approach and assumptions, the book opened the way for understandings of the church that countered traditional exclusive conceptions yet maintained continuity with the history of the Movement. Shelly, Rubel, and John O. York. The Jesus Proposal: A Theological Frameworkfor Maintaining the Unity of the Body of Christ. Siloam Springs, AR: Leafwood, 2003; and Rubel Shelly and John O. York. The Jesus Community: A Theology of Relational Faith. Siloam Springs, AR: Leafwood, 2004. In these two books, Shelly and York call for unity among believers based not on modem rational understand- ings of the gospel, but on a personal relationship with Christ and with all who have such a relationship. In The Jesus Proposal the authors assert that the "postmodern" atmosphere of the twenty-first century can foster relational unity in Christ that is greater than theological agreement, ecclesiological structure, and insti- tutional loyalty. The Jesus Community describes how a church might live out the vision described in the first book. B. Unity as Understood in the Larger Context of Christianity Meyer, Harding. That All May be One: Perceptions and Models of Ecumenicity, Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1999. An experienced leader in the Ecumenical movement, Meyer describes the shifts away from institutional ecu- menism that have taken place among churches worldwide. In two major sections he first describes the wide range of understandings of Christian unity that exists today, then surveys the proposals for how unity can be lived out by Christians and churches. IV. THE ROLE AND IMPORTANCE OF TRADITION-REEXAMINING SELF-UNDERSTANDINGS A. In